Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:07:43.087Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bridging the Two Cultures – Commercial Archaeology and the Study of Prehistoric Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Richard Bradley
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, School of Human and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 217, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AB, UK. E-mail: .

Abstract

This paper was given at a meeting of the Society held on 12 January 2006 and it discusses the relationship between academic research and developer-funded archaeology in Britain today, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each. It considers the relationship between archaeological theory and practice and discusses the changing roles of academics, fieldworkers and managers. It argues that important issues need to be resolved, including the dissemination of information from recent archaeological fieldwork and the use of ‘grey literature’ in informing more ambitious interpretations of the past.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrews, G, Barrett, J and Lewis, J 2000. ‘Interpretation not record: the practice of archaeology’, Antiquity, 74, 525–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Association of Local Government Archaeology Officers 2002. Historic Environment Records: Benchmarks for Good Practice, LondonGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J 1987. ‘The Glastonbury lake village: models and source criticism’, Archaeol J, 144, 409–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R 2003. ‘Seeing things: perception, experience and the constraints of excavation’, J Social Archaeol, 3.2, 151–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R forthcoming. The Prehistory of Britain and Ireland, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Brewster, T 1980. The Excavation ofGarton and Wetwang Slacks, LondonGoogle Scholar
Childe, V G 1956. Piecing Together the Past, LondonGoogle Scholar
Darvill, T, Russell, B and Bell, C 2002. Archaeology After PPG 16: Archaeological Investigations in England 1990–1999, BournemouthGoogle Scholar
Department of the Environment 1990. Planning Policy Guideline. Archaeology and Planning (PPG 16), LondonGoogle Scholar
Edgeworth, M 2003. Acts of Discovery: An Ethnography of Archaeological Practice, OxfordGoogle Scholar
English Heritage 2005a. English Heritage Research Agenda: An Introduction to English Heritage's Research Themes and Programmes, LondonGoogle Scholar
English Heritage 2005b. Discovering the Past, Shaping the Future. Research Strategy 2005–2010, LondonGoogle Scholar
Gaukroger, S 2001. Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early-Modern Philosophy, CambridgeCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geertz, C 1973. ‘Thick description: towards an interpretive theory of culture’, in The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays (Geertz, C), 330, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Hey, G and Lacey, M 2001. Evolution of Archaeological Decision-Making Processes and Strategies, MaidstoneGoogle Scholar
Hodder, I 1999. The Archaeological Process, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Hunter, J and Ralston, I (eds) 1993. Archaeological Resource Management in the UK. An Introduction, StroudGoogle Scholar
Olivier, A 1996. Frameworks for our Past: A Review of Research Frameworks, Strategies and Priorities, LondonGoogle Scholar
O'Sullivan, J 2003. ‘Reporting, publication and dissemination’, in Archaeology and the National Road Authority (ed O'Sullivan, J), 91811, DublinGoogle Scholar
Phillips, T and Bradley, R 2004. ‘Developer- funded field work in Scotland, 1990–2003: an overview of the prehistoric evidence’, Proc Soc Antiq Scotl, 134, 1751Google Scholar
Piggott, S 1959. Approach to Archaeology, LondonGoogle Scholar
Piggott, S 1963. ‘Archaeology and prehistory: presidential address’, Proc Prehist Soc, 29, 116CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piggott, S 1989. Ancient Britons and the Antiquarian Imagination, LondonGoogle Scholar
Rahtz, P (ed) 1974. Rescue Archaeology, HarmondsworthGoogle Scholar
Richmond, IA 1943. ‘Appreciation of R G Collingwood as an archaeologist’, Proc Brit Acad, 29, 476–80Google Scholar
Roskams, S 2001. Excavation, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Strathern, M (ed) 2000. Audit Cultures, LondonGoogle Scholar
Sweet, R 2004. Antiquaries. The Discovery of the Past in Eighteenth-Century Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Tilley, C 2004. The Materiality of Stone, OxfordGoogle Scholar